Threepeat

by Ryan

One season.

Dick Jauron has made a career out of one football season in which his team went 13-3 and lost its first playoff game at home.

That's actually pretty impressive. Getting a few million dollars and employment with two football teams for a few months of incredible luck is about as good as it gets in life. Sure he has to work hard as a head coach, but if you take away that one 13-3 season our current head coach is 20 games under .500 for his career. Even with the 2001 Bears he is 56-73 with zero playoff wins.

When you think about it, he's the perfect football coach for this team. A team with lots of potential and flashes of brilliance while remaining perpetually mediocre needs a soft spoken, unassuming, below-average head coach to keep the rudder bouncing back and forth.

I'm not one to bang the "Fire Dick" drum all that often, but that's mostly because it sounds pretty gross. I really try to give head coaches the benefit of the doubt after the rapid fire succession we've seen here since Marv's departure. Still, the turn of events we've seen take place this year have slowly brought me to the point where I can say this team would be better off without Dick Jauron.

The case against him is pretty easy to make, but the same can be said for any head coach if you try hard enough. Whenever you are frustrated with your current head coach you look for the qualities that guy lacks and want them for yourself. With Dick Jauron you are looking for someone who has the ability to raise their voice an octave, doesn't talk at you like you're a remedial second grader, and looks and moves like a living creature. Wow, not looking for a whole lot there, are we?

I'm not looking for bizarro Dick Jauron here, in fact I think he does some good things with his team. His level-headedness is good at times, but when things go terribly wrong it would be nice to see he's capable of blinking. Changing nothing is not staying steady if the ship is only going down. That's an inability to adapt and change, and that's the sign of a bad head coach.

The problem is that Dick Jauron isn't a bad coach, he's just really, really average. He isn't going to suck our loud because he has some coaching ability. However, it looks more and more like that 13-3 season is an exception to the rule. He peaked as a pro football coach in 2001, and if that's the case what is he doing running a pro football team in 2008?

More than anything it is his press conferences that get to me. I know dealing with the press should not be the main concern of any head coach, but it is part of the job. Dealing with the media keeps you accountable with the fans and is the only way to get a real feel for the team from a primary source.

If that's the case, why is it that I've learned absolutely nothing from Dick Jauron since he took the head coaching position? His pressers read like the Madden tutorial we all skip because we understand the basics of football. Really, Dick, we do. You don't have to explain that running Marshawn Lynch 33 times per game would get him hurt over time. You also don't have to explain that when you are in the red zone the defense has less ground to cover. That's kind of a good thing because it means you have less ground to gain in order to score points.

Also, Trent Edwards has completely regressed as a football player. I know this because I have eyes. Sorry to break it to you. I also know that Marshawn Lynch had 16 carries on Sunday and was given the ball once in the red zone. That one carry was also after his longest run of the season, so if you are worried about "destroying" him you should have given him a break there. That would mean Marshawn could have carried the ball another, say, ten times, and maybe a few of those could have been in the red zone. It seems kind of difficult to score down there, so maybe you should give your best player a chance to punch it in instead of rolling out your fledgling quarterback with a sore groin.

The Bills lost to a 3-8 West Coast team at home on a day where they failed to score a touchdown despite a +300 yard performance on offense. There were plenty of questions asked by the media, and rightfully so. These are the answers Dick Jauron gives us, and if that really is the best he can do then perhaps he doesn't know the real answers either.

I'm not asking for honesty, we all know that's never going to happen. All I want is someone to lead this team that seems to understand the questions asked by the media. I know he's doing it on purpose, I get it; but what he needs to understand that it's getting old. I'm sick of expecting nothing from this head coach, and I'm starting to get sick of expecting nothing from this team.

Someone needs to take the blame for this clusterf*ck of a season. Maybe it should be on the players, but maybe it's time to look for someone with a bit more upside leading this team as well. The last two seasons under Dick Jauron have ended with a 7-9 record. Right now the Bills are at 6-6 with the playoffs out of the question once again. 7-9, 7-9, and it's looking like another 7-9.

One more strike sure looks like an out to me.